1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns cotton swabs having resistance to bacterial contamination.
2. The Related Art
Swabs articles having an elongated stem and an absorbent covering on the tips are well known. Cotton is generally used as the absorbent covering. Stems are constituted of wood, rolled paper or plastic.
Most often the swabs are used for personal hygiene. They are particularly functional for cleaning the outer surfaces of the ear and even for applying cosmetics to the face and other parts of the body.
Airborne bacteria are especially prevalent in bathrooms and medical offices/hospitals. Coincidentally swabs are usually housed and employed in these areas. Thus the risks of swabs becoming contaminated is greatly increased. It would therefore be highly desirable to ensure that the cotton tips be protected against microbial contamination.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,994 (Bedford) discloses an applicator saturated with a disinfecting liquid. The product is sealed within a liquid-impervious pouch. The intent of this product is to deliver disinfecting liquids to wounds.
A similar concept is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,343,540 (Siegel) which seeks to transfer a medicament, which may be an anti-infective or antibacterial agent, to a portion of the human body. This approach is somewhat different from the Bedford patent in that the active agents are held on the applicator in a dried state. An encapsulating water-soluble resin surrounds the actives. The encapsulates are deposited onto the absorbent coverings (e.g. cotton) of the applicators. Release of the actives occurs when the applicator tip is wetted with water. The water soluble resin dissolves releasing the anti-infective or antibacterial agent. Nothing is mentioned with respect to protecting the swab itself from contamination. Indeed, encapsulation separates the active from any protective interaction with the absorbent covering or applicator stick. By contrast, swab articles of the present invention exclude antibacterial agents stored in liquid form on the swab. Also excluded are antibacterial agents encapsulated within resins or waxes.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a swab with absorbent coverings at either end of a stem which have been reinforced against microbial contamination.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a procedure for uniformly distributing antimicrobial actives into the absorbent coverings of swab sticks.
These and other objects of the present will become more readily apparent from consideration of the following summary and detailed description.